There is a lot of wisdom here, which perhaps comes with age, yet more likely comes with deep thought. We have a buy nothing group , started by a friend in a nearby small town. It works. What we don't need is still needed, and the boy with the "new" bed is quite happy. Annie Leonard, now of Greenpeace, but originally producing "The Story of Stuff" had it right, we just don't need to make, buy and celebrate so much stuff. What good is a 330 foot yacht when you can only be in one small part at a time? What good is a 6,000 square foot house when your best time is spent in one room with your kids? We create these false needs with advertising, and look what advertising brings - bought politicians, climate change, and isolation from neighbors. Is that what we really want? No, we were made to live in a garden, not a palace.
When I was a kid, the Protestant Work Ethic was taught in public schools. We were taught to live modestly. Where I lived, the Pennsylvania Conservancy, reclaimed private land to return it, in essence to the "commons." 4 states were founded as commonwealths where by default everyone had rights to use public lands. Heroes were Johnny Appleseed, Gifford Pinchot and Andy Carnegie, who left everything to the public.
It makes sense to conserve. We need the necessities of life...food, shelter, clothing. But to endow ourselves and posterity we need to save and invest. Recycled materials — like paper, plastic and glass — almost always use less energy than new, raw materials.
Once upon a time, people seemed to be more energy conscious. Whatever happened to the Whole Earth Catalogue? Earth shoes? ZPG? IMHO this is a public, rather than a private issue. Consider global warming and, especially where I live, sea rise.
While the government does not directly regulate waste, starting in the 1970s, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed federal recycling laws through what is known as the Resource Conservation and Recover (RCRA). According to the EPA, “RCRA establishes the framework for a national system of solid waste control. As of July 2020, 27 states and the District of Columbia have at least one mandatory recycling requirement, with every state but one banning at least one product (e.g., batteries, waste oil, tires) from disposal in its solid waste facilities.
Although recycling had been seen as a panacea, it's in decline here. The recycling rate has continued to decline since 2016 to the state's current recycling rate of 49%.
Gee. That July 2020 mandatory recycling minimum requirement is pathetic! Overall, I'll share a bumper sticker I saw many years ago (and sadly, never since) that really stuck with me: "Live simply so that others may simply live."
MM, I had a button I wore for years with that statement. I still believe it and am trying to live it, but alas, not doing too well. I will keep working on it. Thanks for the reminder. "Live simply that others may simply live!" Can't say it often enough.
Daniel, I worked on RCRA at EPA - aka the Superfund law - fund for managing and closing abandoned hazardous waste sites nationwide. The hostile GOP Congress required EPA to report to Congress annually on whether RCRA enforcement, devolved to the states, impacted state tax collecting. I was the chump who had to write the report to Congress. Not only had not one single state agency even construed a question like that, I did learn all about how the New York mafia circumvented the hazardous waste dumping laws by sending used motor oil to home heating oil. When I took the evidence to my boss, he told me I couldn't put it in my report to Congress. Why not? Because it's an enforcement matter and we are not enforcement, we're policy. Can I give the evidence to enforcement? No, because the evidence has to come from outside the agency. Can I tell my colleague at the New York State Crime Commission how to get the evidence to enforcement? No. .. I will tell my colleague at the New York State Crime Commission how to get the evidence to her Congressional delegation. I finished the report to Congress, took my name off it, told my father, who was Treasury Undersecretary, what was happening, left EPA, and went back to California.
Wow! Martha, you must have felt horrible, knowing what was going on and knowing you were not supposed to do anything about it. Kudos to you for reporting it anyway and then leaving. It is just wrong that everything is divided so neatly so "that is not my job" is the language used to be sure people stay in their own lane, and that things that need to be investigated rarely are. I am wondering if anything was done to stop the illegal practices in New York.
I made sure that the information got to the New York Congressional delegation. I believed that my boss was a little New Jersey crook. He had no idea who he was trying to bully. I did not enlighten him.
Martha, LOVE IT! It's so great when you can do a little bit to make the world better and the perp doesn't know who did the deed. Delicious! Now if we could get a whole lot of those little bits in place . . . .
I heard on the radio from some credible source that the food safety governmental group isn’t allowed to tell you there’s a foodborne problem unless the company agrees. How many of our government watchdogs have their hands tied. I don’t want to hear about botulism or salmonella a year after or not at all, after people have died. This year we can see clearly that there are major efforts to undermine our government processes. How can we fix the government so it works for the people. It runs on all our money. We hired the government to work for us and we’re the ones who pay them not the rich corporations, or the very rich people.
"we're the ones who pay them not the rich corporations..." but it IS the rich corporations paying them... There's an oligarchy running this entire country.
Thank you, Martha for explaining, clearly, the inter-agency problems that arise. I too, spent years working in and with various public agencies and can corroborate your observations. What we need are clearly written laws, rules, regulations, applying common sense to what can be shared, should be shared, and a clear and concise roadmap on how to share such information. The absolute right to privacy does not and should not be used to shield criminal behavior in agencies or of which agencies are aware.
Sadly, classic example of why it takes FOREVER to get anything truly useful done, and why if something DOES manage to get done, is usually watered down so severely it's useLESS. Glad you jumped ship when you did; liked the responsible way in which you did it; REALLY sorry you had to.
In live in Oregon, where a high percentage of stuff is recyclable, that gets collected on trash day. Bottles and cans are returnable, if that's the word. Unfortunately, not most plastic, so folks have to figure out "one more thing" to recycle more of the plastic we use. We're still using clamshells, for goodness sake.
Last summer when mostly Brooklyn family and I went to visit a sister in Georgia, I was astonished at the number of plastic water bottles we consumed but even more so when I learned they're just thrown away. No nickel or dime for returned bottles.
Sharon, have you heard of Ridwell? It’s a company which finds ways to recycle things that municipal recycling won’t take (plastic film, clamshells, styrofoam, dead batteries, dead light bulbs and more) and then picks up those things and recycles them for a nominal fee. Plastic film, for example, gets turned into Trex decking boards. It’s awesome. I use it and I love it. It started in Seattle and has spread to many other cities including Portland OR. Look it up Ridwell.com.
We have Ridwell in Portland and environs now! It may be a year since I found out. The clamshells. Oy! I had no idea until I had to save them up for 2 weeks how many we use. And there are only 3 of us.
Sharon, that is the point isn't it? We COULD do better, but clearly we don't have the will to do it. When we get the will, we will not only figure it out but not be able to understand why we didn't do it sooner. We've done that before on other issues. Now we need to push to get the will.
Ruth, I appreciate your optimistic view on human behavior, but sadly I don't share it. We already know some important basics, but are too lazy and complacent to make changes in our behavior.
It reminds me of the memory my late mother shared of how, during WWII, people saved the bit of aluminum foil on chewing gum wrappers for the war effort. All I thought was, " And now, without that threat, we can't even recycle an aluminum can"! I thought, "We have met the enemy and it is US"!
Connie, yes, I am rather optimistic since I have seen a whole lot of people change over time. I started recycling in 1987. our college campuses started recycling and by the end of the year, a whole lot of students were putting recycles in the correct spots for collection when hardly anyone was doing it at the beginning of the year. People do what they see others doing or what they are expected to do. If there were small fines at first for not recycling, the number of people doing it would increase significantly, and if there were say, neighborhood incentives for the amount of recycling correctly collected, maybe a small block party for the blocks that did the best job and kept their block the cleanest along with the recycling win, recycling would not only improve, but everyone would be getting involved. When people think it does not impact them, they will find other things to do and will ignore the rest. If they could see the massive trash people dump and that workers have to clean up on the taxpayer dollar, behavior would change. There really is so much that could be done on a slim budget to get recycling accomplished, but we have done almost nothing as a society. Seatbelts came into the position of essential when people were cited for not having them, and every car manufacturer had to have them in every car, people's behavior changed, not all people's behavior, but enough. Now we need to do the same for recycling and other environment-related issues.
Daniel, I am also concerned that less is being recycled. It seems to me a really good use of old factories and a provider of new quality jobs could be for true recycling of more items and creating new products for packaging that are inexpensive and biodegradable. It will take subsidies at first because the setup will be expensive, but it could be really effective over time in cleaning up our mess. The problem, economic leaders can't think beyond what they already know unless they are pushed to it. I suspect there are folks in the Biden administration who would be open to supporting such really large efforts. If built in Ohio and oh, say, Alabama, there might even be Republican support. I suspect there is some science to support such recycling and development. We need to help to advance that research.
There's plenty of science. And it's a lucrative industry. E.G. a lot cheaper to make steel products from recaptured iron. There are plenty of old factory sites laden with rusted iron materials where I came from...Pennsyltucky. In some cases the land was sold for next to nothing at tax sales but now generates pure profit.
In W. Pa, recently a new fossil fuel "cracker" plant came on line. The plant is expected to produce up to 1.6 million tons of polyethylene each year to make products like flexible food packaging, sports equipment, toys, crates, shampoo bottles and milk cartons.
Many manufacturers use "injection mold" plastic technology. The process is cheaper than making the same using biodegradable materials.
However, existing plastics are an ecological problem, "out of control." The most visible impacts of plastic debris are the ingestion, suffocation and entanglement of hundreds of marine species. Marine wildlife such as seabirds, whales, fish and turtles mistake plastic waste for prey; most then die of starvation as their stomachs become filled with plastic.
Throughout their lifecycle, plastics have a significant carbon footprint and emit 3.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Beyond the hazards posed to the marine and terrestrial environment as well as to humans, plastics are also a substantial contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions.
The most commonly recycled plastics are: 1 – Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) – water bottles and plastic trays. 2 – High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) – milk cartoons and shampoo bottles. 5 – Polypropylene (PP) – margarine tubs and ready-meal trays.
Unfortunately some plastics are toxic -- shouldn't have been sold in the first place. l=
Thank you, Daniel. A scientist working at IBM invented a way to recycle a specific plastic all the way back to 'beads' that could then be sold to remake new plastic products without using any new fossil fuels. I believe, with sufficient research similar inventions could be used for different plastics. The major problem is industry regulation, which is anathema to the GOP and some Democrats from industrial States. We need real politicians who truly believe the good of the Country is more valuable than their personal good.
Yep, microscopic plastics are everywhere, in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Humans are doing a damned good job of destroying not only their own habitat, but that of nearly (but thank goodness not) all living things.
I just bought a warm coat with both fabric and insulation made from recycled plastic bottles. It performs as advertised, and was inexpensive. The technology is growing.
Part of the reason for decline of recycling, Daniel, is that plastics that we thought were being recycled aren't. Clothing we donated to various charities, has ended in landfills (garbage dumps) And also some people, especially the elderly with "memory issues" have misused recycling. I have been recycling glass, aluminum, tin, steel, newspapers, plastics, since the 1970's. I now live in an independent living Senior apartment complex. They stopped recycling when the waste disposal company threatened to sue because raw garbage was being thrown into the recycle bins and residents weren't separating the different recyclables. I can't kick the habit though, so I have plastic bags full of plastic bottles, aluminum cans and clean glass stored in my apartment in hope that one of my grandchildren will take them to sell at a recycling place.
Wayne, such wisdom! We are sold an image of what life should look like and think it should fit us. When it doesn't, we are stuck. I have discovered that the more space one has, the more one can store.
We also have to figure out how to change our collective "value systems" so that "success" is no longer measured by the amount of money one makes/has or all the physical "stuff" they own (and/or the size/quantity/value/etc of it).
Love this and had forgotten about it! Just posted it on FB and subscribed to the newsletter. I am an avid purger and recycler, all of life. Less is more! I now subscribe to a simplicity website called "Be More With Less" (www.bemorewithless.com) and she referred her readers to "Chop Wood, Carry Water" (www.cwcwca.substack.com) which is an amazing political activist newsletter founded by an Indivisible member, Jessica Craven, in San Francisco.
What goes around comes around. Recommend both newsletters for different reasons, or maybe the same mission: With less stuff you have more time and money for defending democracy AND you help clean up the environment and worker exploitation!
Yes, and I am in the process of really being thoughtful about what I need to keep. I have never been one to keep things around when they have lost their usefulness for me because I feel that they can be put into service by someone else who will enjoy them- books included.
Jim G. I love that Carlin routine. I used to feel so guilty about having stuff when I thought of his comments. I have things I don't need, but alas, I have liked having them, thinking about them and the people who gave them to me. It is one of my indulgences. If I knew people who would like to have them, I will pass them on. Recently, though, I decided to auction a lovely piece a friend calligraphed for me, thinking it might bring in some money and give someone else pleasure since I can't see it anymore. It brought $5.00 and I have no idea if the winner will appreciate the effort put into it or not. It is painful thinking about that. Ah well, I am torn about giving up the things that matter to me, at least right now. We'll see. I admire folks who can do it.
This was brilliant - and oh so typical of - most of us, eh ? I'm GLAD he mentioned the - 'store your stuff' storage space rental industry. I've been doing that way too long = too much stuff,
with too much of it all being materials for creating - something else (artsy ?) + the tools needed
to make that - artsy - stuff. I've also inherited more stuff (to keep it from going to landfills et al)
which was still perfectly useful. Inherited from late clients when their families asked me to - help
them clear out their estates... Sigh ~ ~ ~ Now, what do I do with it all ? I've sold some, but too
often it sells for pennies on the dollar to someone who then puts it up for sale for way more.
The "Art of The Deal" comes to mind by ykw (you know who ~ gak). + I don't have kids to pass it along to and the next generation of the family will be dealing with their parents - stuff ~ ~ ~ ~
I asked for a pair of replacement script glasses, socks and for donations to be made to local food banks. My pantry is full but we are spread so thin this year at the Y to help the most in need. If you have an extra bit in your cupboard or pockets... please share that with others.
A young woman in my apartment building has a zeal for reducing landfills. It's a huge problem in New York, and seeing what goes to the curb on trash day is appalling. My neighbor (a teacher) has a Facebook site on which she advertises stuff which people must pick up themselves, and she helped me find homes for a floor lamp, a table, and an architectural ornament I no longer need. It was startling. I also sacrificed three of my favorite but moth-eaten sweaters to a textile recycler at our farmer's market. Now, I'm collecting winter clothing for Venezuelan refugees that governors from Texas and Florida have sent our way. Truth be told, I am beginning to feel that our mindless acquisition of stuff which we hoard or mindlessly discard is tied up with our refusal to acknowledge our human interdependence. And I see I am not alone.
I have been living on the secondhand economy for the last 30+ years. It started in earnest for me in Coronado, CA as a young Navy wife as my husband’s pay as an ensign was low. All my maternity clothes and most of my baby daughter’s necessities were secondhand. Being from Massachusetts (land of the stereotypical frugal Yankees), most of our furnishings had come from relatives basements and yard sales when we were newly married. Though none of it was new, we actually had quite nice stuff. The Navy transferred us to rural Maryland after San Diego. We divorced and I found myself as a single parent just getting started in an actual career. My thrifting skills served me well under these circumstances as well. For the most part, I didn’t buy anything new. I was a regular at the local thrift shops, yard sales, and we even had an auction house nearby which sold a lot of useful stuff as opposed to high end items. Interestingly I also discontinued television at home during this time (had to pay for reception where we lived). Because I wasn’t caught up in consumerism and being marketed to via tv, I was able to send my daughter to private school with the money I saved elsewhere. To me, it was a matter of priorities. It was more important for me to spend money on her education and travel than having new things. Truly we had everything we needed and a whole lot of books. We both regularly received compliments on our secondhand wardrobes and we lived in a charming 1920s fisherman’s shack (also recycled!) filled with antiques and interesting objects that came primarily from the thrift shops and auction. Darling daughter is grown now and a savvy thrifter herself. I am retired, living in rural Maine in an 1820 farmhouse (again, secondhand!) filled with preloved books, art, furnishings, and other beautiful things I have collected over the last thirty years. Over this time, I let go of the things we no longer needed; selling at yards sales and donating to thrift shops to keep ourselves right-sized. In fact, every now and then I watch an episode of Hoarders on my phone to keep myself in check (still no tv). Here on the midcoast of Maine we have a number of great local free resources including volunteer run free clothing closets (all donated clothing is free), a weekly free cycle in Camden, Maine with pretty much everything imaginable organized by a church, year round garage sales held by a nonprofit raising funds to address the local housing crisis, and free swap shops at various town dumps. Also, we have flea markets (both indoor in the winter and outside during the better weather) nearby filled with great low cost secondhand stuff. I visit these places on the regular to pass on what I no longer need and look for things that would be helpful to have. I still thrift, but on my retirement income “free” has been exceedlingly helpful during this period of high inflation. I share word of these resources with the folks I meet here and there and while out thrifting. Some people keep this sort of knowledge to themselves out of a selfish concern that there won’t be enough to go around. I am here to tell you there is plenty of stuff out there. Plenty. I started living on the secondhand economy long before it was trendy. I am happy to see this movement go mainstream. In my opinion, it is a better, more sustainable way for us all to live. That is my story, and I am sticking to it!
Years ago my oldest daughter talked about sustainability. We decided that the cabinet of the President needs a Sustainability Department. We should design all things with a life of product cycle and whether or not it meets a goal of sustainability. We not only need less stuff but we need to repurpose, recycle and reuse everything. Nature does. Nature recycles every atom. We are made from atoms from dinosaurs, ferns, rocks, clouds and ultimately stars. No waste in nature. Our planet needs to be sustainable and we are killing it and us with stuff.
I love this idea. Like any massive transformation - social norms around what is means to use recycled stuff need to shift. In the Bay Area my sister is huge on the Buy Nothing group and it 100% works. But in other areas buying new, bigger and better still rules. Need more mainstream campaigns and media support to normalize the "recycled economy" - it's possible!!
Awesome, awesome post. I have radically reduced my consumption after reading "Less is More," by Jason Hickel. It will make you angry and sick to your stomach for being duped into buying the closets/houses/attics/storage units of shit you don't need. As a society, we've been seduced by a combination of advertising messages for "bigger, better, faster, cheaper, more," planned obsolescence, and access to easy credit to spend money we don't have, reinforcing acquisitive behavior patterns that serve as a proxy for individual agency. This faux empowerment is only a temporary fix, though, and leads to great personal suffering when the "stuff" doesn't satisfy the real human needs of individual purpose, dignity, and community. Meanwhile that "stuff" further extracted resources from a dying planet, elevated temperatures, generated more non-biodegradable waste, killed off more biodiversity, contributed to climate disasters, created more climate refugees. If you want to make a difference in this world and take back power from a system that values growth and profits for the sole purpose of growth and profits, #StopBuying. That's the only way the people can take back our dignity, our planet, our power. We are so much more powerful than we realize, but only when we #StandTogether and #ActTogether.
“This faux empowerment is only a temporary fix, though, and leads to great personal suffering when the "stuff" doesn't satisfy the real human needs of individual purpose, dignity, and community.” Well said! I’ll have to read the book. Adjacent, I suspect related to the structural inequalities in this system- met someone as an adult who experienced the traumas of childhood filled with poverty, untreated mental health issues, abuse and neglect. All of the siblings hoard. Lots of crap... wonder how not if that trauma is connected.
Stacey, I agree with you for the most part, the challenge we have is that people still need to borrow to do things and if the out of control buying stops, how will the Fed and others punish us all. They will, guaranteed: high interest rates, scarcity in the things people actually do need and can't trade for, and things I can't even imagine now. Rich white men and a few others can't see themselves watching their fortunes lessen, even if only a tiny fraction. They are deeply addicted to acquisition of money and power and like a desperate addict of anything, will do nearly anything to get their fix even if a whole lot of people are hurt in the process. How do we plan for preventing that from happening?
As one who already shares a lawnmower and assorted tools, I stand solidly behind a recycled economy. But as economists know, economies depend on a circulation not just of goods but of money. What’s needed to make Reich’s solution work is not just stuff left at the end of the driveway but a massive shift to services that matter. Paying far fewer people to work crap jobs selling stuff, paying far more people to work in genuine service. Cutting the average classroom size in half by doubling the number of teachers would be a start. I’d like to believe that’s a possibility but it would take an entire reshifting of our deep and abiding disdain for schools and teachers and our deep and abiding need for stuff.
I am a 75 year old woman who hasn't bought ANYTHING from a store in years. I am retired. I volunteer
at a hugh thrift shop. EVERYTHING I want or need comes from the 2nd hand store. Even such mundane things as unbleached coffee filters or replacement heads for my electric toothbrush I find
there. I am living the life you propose. My income is small but my expenses are much smaller. My bank account continues to grow even though I am wearing designer clothes and have lovely tasteful furniture and accessories. I do not give or want for myself gifts of "stuff" at birthdays or holidays. Experiences of concerts, musical performances or travel have far more value these days. Life is good!
Totally agree! I always check thrift shops or yard sales before buying anything new, and I do not throw out anything usable. I donate to those same thrift shops. Trading would be infinitely better than that, and I have seen signs of it beginning in my area. I hope it continues to become more popular.
My parents gave their 4 daughters along with our families the gift of deciding at 82 they would move from their house to a senior living apartment complex. They needed no help, perfectly healthy, they searched for a lovely, reasonable, safe and pleasant senior living facility. They allowed us to take what we or our children would like, donated their stuff to various recycling and second hand shops. That was over 8 years ago. Dad died in ‘19, right before COVID and Mom is still doing well at 92, still in their original apartment. I’d like to point out the facility’s COVID infection rates were very low and Mom, who is fully vaccinated has never contracted COVID or any variants.
May I point out that as mayor of Braddock, PA, incoming US Senator John Fetterman and his wife Giselle, ran a successful store of regularly needed household items and supplies in their town helping the community’s lower income residents readily stretch their dollars on things they couldn’t afford brand new.
Along with larger resale shops such as Salvation Army, St Vincent DePaul, online message boards and community outreach, these locally owned resale and recycle shops are popular and needed. They’re everywhere. People like to feel their donations of items no longer needed in their homes will find a purpose and make a difference in other homes.
I was thinking that civic minded folk with pick up trucks might offer a few hours a week helping people get needed items (furniture, appliances) from the store to their homes. It doesn’t do any good if you can’t get a needed washer /dryer home. A fee to cover the price of gas or a small donation, people can get the items they need to their homes. That would go a long way to keep things cycling.
The inescapable plastic waste, even from just buying groceries, is a huge ecological problem. We need to fix that with a punitive tax and good packaging alternatives.
But the proposal that the world’s most capitalist country will measure itself by something other than GDP is so cute! Dr Reich, sometimes your subtle humor cracks me up.
Think about what you see on the shelves in stores when you go looking for some thing. How many millions of screwdrivers are out there on store shelves while there are millions of screwdrivers sitting on used with people‘s stuff. To me the critical issue is as you put it, infinite wants from finite resources. Most of my non-food shopping for years has been through Freecycle and thrift and consignment stores people who come to my home love what I have, and a huge percentage of it is recycled. This planet will not survive if we don’t stop using resources to make more of what we already have plenty of .
We used to bring our own trash to the landfill in Southern Rhode Island and I’d sometimes come home with more than I took. I recall a mountain of books at the entrance one Saturday. They came from a small rural library. The dump master sat on a milk carton, tearing the covers off books — like plucking chickens. I screamed at him to stop until I could go through the pile. I took three cases of pre-1900 books home that day.
I once read about a local garbage dump attendant who built & furnished his entire house (inside and out) from scratch with stuff others had tossed. Didn't need to buy a thing.
After growing up with almost all hand-me-downs anyway, I started wearing thrift store clothing back in college when it was cool and vintage. But I came to see the advantages of second-hand clothes and now I barely buy any new clothing beyond bras, socks, and underwear. Benefits are many: you already know what will happen to it when it's washed; if current fashion trends don't fit your tastes, you can pick out things from former decades; you can afford much nicer brands that will last longer; shoes are already broken in and will not give you blisters; the variety!
There is a lot of wisdom here, which perhaps comes with age, yet more likely comes with deep thought. We have a buy nothing group , started by a friend in a nearby small town. It works. What we don't need is still needed, and the boy with the "new" bed is quite happy. Annie Leonard, now of Greenpeace, but originally producing "The Story of Stuff" had it right, we just don't need to make, buy and celebrate so much stuff. What good is a 330 foot yacht when you can only be in one small part at a time? What good is a 6,000 square foot house when your best time is spent in one room with your kids? We create these false needs with advertising, and look what advertising brings - bought politicians, climate change, and isolation from neighbors. Is that what we really want? No, we were made to live in a garden, not a palace.
When I was a kid, the Protestant Work Ethic was taught in public schools. We were taught to live modestly. Where I lived, the Pennsylvania Conservancy, reclaimed private land to return it, in essence to the "commons." 4 states were founded as commonwealths where by default everyone had rights to use public lands. Heroes were Johnny Appleseed, Gifford Pinchot and Andy Carnegie, who left everything to the public.
It makes sense to conserve. We need the necessities of life...food, shelter, clothing. But to endow ourselves and posterity we need to save and invest. Recycled materials — like paper, plastic and glass — almost always use less energy than new, raw materials.
Once upon a time, people seemed to be more energy conscious. Whatever happened to the Whole Earth Catalogue? Earth shoes? ZPG? IMHO this is a public, rather than a private issue. Consider global warming and, especially where I live, sea rise.
While the government does not directly regulate waste, starting in the 1970s, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed federal recycling laws through what is known as the Resource Conservation and Recover (RCRA). According to the EPA, “RCRA establishes the framework for a national system of solid waste control. As of July 2020, 27 states and the District of Columbia have at least one mandatory recycling requirement, with every state but one banning at least one product (e.g., batteries, waste oil, tires) from disposal in its solid waste facilities.
Although recycling had been seen as a panacea, it's in decline here. The recycling rate has continued to decline since 2016 to the state's current recycling rate of 49%.
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Gee. That July 2020 mandatory recycling minimum requirement is pathetic! Overall, I'll share a bumper sticker I saw many years ago (and sadly, never since) that really stuck with me: "Live simply so that others may simply live."
MM, I had a button I wore for years with that statement. I still believe it and am trying to live it, but alas, not doing too well. I will keep working on it. Thanks for the reminder. "Live simply that others may simply live!" Can't say it often enough.
Daniel, I worked on RCRA at EPA - aka the Superfund law - fund for managing and closing abandoned hazardous waste sites nationwide. The hostile GOP Congress required EPA to report to Congress annually on whether RCRA enforcement, devolved to the states, impacted state tax collecting. I was the chump who had to write the report to Congress. Not only had not one single state agency even construed a question like that, I did learn all about how the New York mafia circumvented the hazardous waste dumping laws by sending used motor oil to home heating oil. When I took the evidence to my boss, he told me I couldn't put it in my report to Congress. Why not? Because it's an enforcement matter and we are not enforcement, we're policy. Can I give the evidence to enforcement? No, because the evidence has to come from outside the agency. Can I tell my colleague at the New York State Crime Commission how to get the evidence to enforcement? No. .. I will tell my colleague at the New York State Crime Commission how to get the evidence to her Congressional delegation. I finished the report to Congress, took my name off it, told my father, who was Treasury Undersecretary, what was happening, left EPA, and went back to California.
Wow! Martha, you must have felt horrible, knowing what was going on and knowing you were not supposed to do anything about it. Kudos to you for reporting it anyway and then leaving. It is just wrong that everything is divided so neatly so "that is not my job" is the language used to be sure people stay in their own lane, and that things that need to be investigated rarely are. I am wondering if anything was done to stop the illegal practices in New York.
I made sure that the information got to the New York Congressional delegation. I believed that my boss was a little New Jersey crook. He had no idea who he was trying to bully. I did not enlighten him.
Martha, LOVE IT! It's so great when you can do a little bit to make the world better and the perp doesn't know who did the deed. Delicious! Now if we could get a whole lot of those little bits in place . . . .
I heard on the radio from some credible source that the food safety governmental group isn’t allowed to tell you there’s a foodborne problem unless the company agrees. How many of our government watchdogs have their hands tied. I don’t want to hear about botulism or salmonella a year after or not at all, after people have died. This year we can see clearly that there are major efforts to undermine our government processes. How can we fix the government so it works for the people. It runs on all our money. We hired the government to work for us and we’re the ones who pay them not the rich corporations, or the very rich people.
"we're the ones who pay them not the rich corporations..." but it IS the rich corporations paying them... There's an oligarchy running this entire country.
Thank you, Martha for explaining, clearly, the inter-agency problems that arise. I too, spent years working in and with various public agencies and can corroborate your observations. What we need are clearly written laws, rules, regulations, applying common sense to what can be shared, should be shared, and a clear and concise roadmap on how to share such information. The absolute right to privacy does not and should not be used to shield criminal behavior in agencies or of which agencies are aware.
Sadly, classic example of why it takes FOREVER to get anything truly useful done, and why if something DOES manage to get done, is usually watered down so severely it's useLESS. Glad you jumped ship when you did; liked the responsible way in which you did it; REALLY sorry you had to.
In live in Oregon, where a high percentage of stuff is recyclable, that gets collected on trash day. Bottles and cans are returnable, if that's the word. Unfortunately, not most plastic, so folks have to figure out "one more thing" to recycle more of the plastic we use. We're still using clamshells, for goodness sake.
Last summer when mostly Brooklyn family and I went to visit a sister in Georgia, I was astonished at the number of plastic water bottles we consumed but even more so when I learned they're just thrown away. No nickel or dime for returned bottles.
We can do better if we want to.
Sharon, have you heard of Ridwell? It’s a company which finds ways to recycle things that municipal recycling won’t take (plastic film, clamshells, styrofoam, dead batteries, dead light bulbs and more) and then picks up those things and recycles them for a nominal fee. Plastic film, for example, gets turned into Trex decking boards. It’s awesome. I use it and I love it. It started in Seattle and has spread to many other cities including Portland OR. Look it up Ridwell.com.
I have, thanks! It's on the list of things to do this month.
We have Ridwell in Portland and environs now! It may be a year since I found out. The clamshells. Oy! I had no idea until I had to save them up for 2 weeks how many we use. And there are only 3 of us.
Sharon, that is the point isn't it? We COULD do better, but clearly we don't have the will to do it. When we get the will, we will not only figure it out but not be able to understand why we didn't do it sooner. We've done that before on other issues. Now we need to push to get the will.
Ruth, I appreciate your optimistic view on human behavior, but sadly I don't share it. We already know some important basics, but are too lazy and complacent to make changes in our behavior.
It reminds me of the memory my late mother shared of how, during WWII, people saved the bit of aluminum foil on chewing gum wrappers for the war effort. All I thought was, " And now, without that threat, we can't even recycle an aluminum can"! I thought, "We have met the enemy and it is US"!
Connie, yes, I am rather optimistic since I have seen a whole lot of people change over time. I started recycling in 1987. our college campuses started recycling and by the end of the year, a whole lot of students were putting recycles in the correct spots for collection when hardly anyone was doing it at the beginning of the year. People do what they see others doing or what they are expected to do. If there were small fines at first for not recycling, the number of people doing it would increase significantly, and if there were say, neighborhood incentives for the amount of recycling correctly collected, maybe a small block party for the blocks that did the best job and kept their block the cleanest along with the recycling win, recycling would not only improve, but everyone would be getting involved. When people think it does not impact them, they will find other things to do and will ignore the rest. If they could see the massive trash people dump and that workers have to clean up on the taxpayer dollar, behavior would change. There really is so much that could be done on a slim budget to get recycling accomplished, but we have done almost nothing as a society. Seatbelts came into the position of essential when people were cited for not having them, and every car manufacturer had to have them in every car, people's behavior changed, not all people's behavior, but enough. Now we need to do the same for recycling and other environment-related issues.
Daniel, I am also concerned that less is being recycled. It seems to me a really good use of old factories and a provider of new quality jobs could be for true recycling of more items and creating new products for packaging that are inexpensive and biodegradable. It will take subsidies at first because the setup will be expensive, but it could be really effective over time in cleaning up our mess. The problem, economic leaders can't think beyond what they already know unless they are pushed to it. I suspect there are folks in the Biden administration who would be open to supporting such really large efforts. If built in Ohio and oh, say, Alabama, there might even be Republican support. I suspect there is some science to support such recycling and development. We need to help to advance that research.
There's plenty of science. And it's a lucrative industry. E.G. a lot cheaper to make steel products from recaptured iron. There are plenty of old factory sites laden with rusted iron materials where I came from...Pennsyltucky. In some cases the land was sold for next to nothing at tax sales but now generates pure profit.
In W. Pa, recently a new fossil fuel "cracker" plant came on line. The plant is expected to produce up to 1.6 million tons of polyethylene each year to make products like flexible food packaging, sports equipment, toys, crates, shampoo bottles and milk cartons.
Many manufacturers use "injection mold" plastic technology. The process is cheaper than making the same using biodegradable materials.
However, existing plastics are an ecological problem, "out of control." The most visible impacts of plastic debris are the ingestion, suffocation and entanglement of hundreds of marine species. Marine wildlife such as seabirds, whales, fish and turtles mistake plastic waste for prey; most then die of starvation as their stomachs become filled with plastic.
Throughout their lifecycle, plastics have a significant carbon footprint and emit 3.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Beyond the hazards posed to the marine and terrestrial environment as well as to humans, plastics are also a substantial contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions.
The most commonly recycled plastics are: 1 – Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) – water bottles and plastic trays. 2 – High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) – milk cartoons and shampoo bottles. 5 – Polypropylene (PP) – margarine tubs and ready-meal trays.
Unfortunately some plastics are toxic -- shouldn't have been sold in the first place. l=
Thank you, Daniel. A scientist working at IBM invented a way to recycle a specific plastic all the way back to 'beads' that could then be sold to remake new plastic products without using any new fossil fuels. I believe, with sufficient research similar inventions could be used for different plastics. The major problem is industry regulation, which is anathema to the GOP and some Democrats from industrial States. We need real politicians who truly believe the good of the Country is more valuable than their personal good.
Scientists are finding microscopic plastics in the human bloodstream. Payback is Hell !
Yep, microscopic plastics are everywhere, in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Humans are doing a damned good job of destroying not only their own habitat, but that of nearly (but thank goodness not) all living things.
I just bought a warm coat with both fabric and insulation made from recycled plastic bottles. It performs as advertised, and was inexpensive. The technology is growing.
Well done, Trisha. This is great news. Perhaps we can truly recycle again.
Part of the reason for decline of recycling, Daniel, is that plastics that we thought were being recycled aren't. Clothing we donated to various charities, has ended in landfills (garbage dumps) And also some people, especially the elderly with "memory issues" have misused recycling. I have been recycling glass, aluminum, tin, steel, newspapers, plastics, since the 1970's. I now live in an independent living Senior apartment complex. They stopped recycling when the waste disposal company threatened to sue because raw garbage was being thrown into the recycle bins and residents weren't separating the different recyclables. I can't kick the habit though, so I have plastic bags full of plastic bottles, aluminum cans and clean glass stored in my apartment in hope that one of my grandchildren will take them to sell at a recycling place.
Wayne, such wisdom! We are sold an image of what life should look like and think it should fit us. When it doesn't, we are stuck. I have discovered that the more space one has, the more one can store.
We also have to figure out how to change our collective "value systems" so that "success" is no longer measured by the amount of money one makes/has or all the physical "stuff" they own (and/or the size/quantity/value/etc of it).
The story of stuff was an eye opener for me. Here is the link for those who haven't seen it:
https://youtu.be/9GorqroigqM
Love this and had forgotten about it! Just posted it on FB and subscribed to the newsletter. I am an avid purger and recycler, all of life. Less is more! I now subscribe to a simplicity website called "Be More With Less" (www.bemorewithless.com) and she referred her readers to "Chop Wood, Carry Water" (www.cwcwca.substack.com) which is an amazing political activist newsletter founded by an Indivisible member, Jessica Craven, in San Francisco.
What goes around comes around. Recommend both newsletters for different reasons, or maybe the same mission: With less stuff you have more time and money for defending democracy AND you help clean up the environment and worker exploitation!
Wow! An eye opening story!
Yes, and I am in the process of really being thoughtful about what I need to keep. I have never been one to keep things around when they have lost their usefulness for me because I feel that they can be put into service by someone else who will enjoy them- books included.
Thank you. I just watched it and sent it on to my email contacts. Hoping they too will watch it and pass it on.
I like your last sentence.
Here is George Carlin on stuff: https://youtu.be/4x_QkGPCL18
How we miss George Carlin!
Yes, but he would be aghast at Trump.
as are we ALL!!
Molly, but Carlin would not have pulled any punches when calling Trump out on his insanity.
You then need to buy a thing to put your stuff in.
Jim G. I love that Carlin routine. I used to feel so guilty about having stuff when I thought of his comments. I have things I don't need, but alas, I have liked having them, thinking about them and the people who gave them to me. It is one of my indulgences. If I knew people who would like to have them, I will pass them on. Recently, though, I decided to auction a lovely piece a friend calligraphed for me, thinking it might bring in some money and give someone else pleasure since I can't see it anymore. It brought $5.00 and I have no idea if the winner will appreciate the effort put into it or not. It is painful thinking about that. Ah well, I am torn about giving up the things that matter to me, at least right now. We'll see. I admire folks who can do it.
I think you should hold on to the things that really mean something to you Ruth.
This was brilliant - and oh so typical of - most of us, eh ? I'm GLAD he mentioned the - 'store your stuff' storage space rental industry. I've been doing that way too long = too much stuff,
with too much of it all being materials for creating - something else (artsy ?) + the tools needed
to make that - artsy - stuff. I've also inherited more stuff (to keep it from going to landfills et al)
which was still perfectly useful. Inherited from late clients when their families asked me to - help
them clear out their estates... Sigh ~ ~ ~ Now, what do I do with it all ? I've sold some, but too
often it sells for pennies on the dollar to someone who then puts it up for sale for way more.
The "Art of The Deal" comes to mind by ykw (you know who ~ gak). + I don't have kids to pass it along to and the next generation of the family will be dealing with their parents - stuff ~ ~ ~ ~
Thanks a LOT, Jim G!
I saved the link, then got lost, saving some of my fav George & others clips for later. INSTEAD of cleaning out my mom's house...
I asked for a pair of replacement script glasses, socks and for donations to be made to local food banks. My pantry is full but we are spread so thin this year at the Y to help the most in need. If you have an extra bit in your cupboard or pockets... please share that with others.
A young woman in my apartment building has a zeal for reducing landfills. It's a huge problem in New York, and seeing what goes to the curb on trash day is appalling. My neighbor (a teacher) has a Facebook site on which she advertises stuff which people must pick up themselves, and she helped me find homes for a floor lamp, a table, and an architectural ornament I no longer need. It was startling. I also sacrificed three of my favorite but moth-eaten sweaters to a textile recycler at our farmer's market. Now, I'm collecting winter clothing for Venezuelan refugees that governors from Texas and Florida have sent our way. Truth be told, I am beginning to feel that our mindless acquisition of stuff which we hoard or mindlessly discard is tied up with our refusal to acknowledge our human interdependence. And I see I am not alone.
I have been living on the secondhand economy for the last 30+ years. It started in earnest for me in Coronado, CA as a young Navy wife as my husband’s pay as an ensign was low. All my maternity clothes and most of my baby daughter’s necessities were secondhand. Being from Massachusetts (land of the stereotypical frugal Yankees), most of our furnishings had come from relatives basements and yard sales when we were newly married. Though none of it was new, we actually had quite nice stuff. The Navy transferred us to rural Maryland after San Diego. We divorced and I found myself as a single parent just getting started in an actual career. My thrifting skills served me well under these circumstances as well. For the most part, I didn’t buy anything new. I was a regular at the local thrift shops, yard sales, and we even had an auction house nearby which sold a lot of useful stuff as opposed to high end items. Interestingly I also discontinued television at home during this time (had to pay for reception where we lived). Because I wasn’t caught up in consumerism and being marketed to via tv, I was able to send my daughter to private school with the money I saved elsewhere. To me, it was a matter of priorities. It was more important for me to spend money on her education and travel than having new things. Truly we had everything we needed and a whole lot of books. We both regularly received compliments on our secondhand wardrobes and we lived in a charming 1920s fisherman’s shack (also recycled!) filled with antiques and interesting objects that came primarily from the thrift shops and auction. Darling daughter is grown now and a savvy thrifter herself. I am retired, living in rural Maine in an 1820 farmhouse (again, secondhand!) filled with preloved books, art, furnishings, and other beautiful things I have collected over the last thirty years. Over this time, I let go of the things we no longer needed; selling at yards sales and donating to thrift shops to keep ourselves right-sized. In fact, every now and then I watch an episode of Hoarders on my phone to keep myself in check (still no tv). Here on the midcoast of Maine we have a number of great local free resources including volunteer run free clothing closets (all donated clothing is free), a weekly free cycle in Camden, Maine with pretty much everything imaginable organized by a church, year round garage sales held by a nonprofit raising funds to address the local housing crisis, and free swap shops at various town dumps. Also, we have flea markets (both indoor in the winter and outside during the better weather) nearby filled with great low cost secondhand stuff. I visit these places on the regular to pass on what I no longer need and look for things that would be helpful to have. I still thrift, but on my retirement income “free” has been exceedlingly helpful during this period of high inflation. I share word of these resources with the folks I meet here and there and while out thrifting. Some people keep this sort of knowledge to themselves out of a selfish concern that there won’t be enough to go around. I am here to tell you there is plenty of stuff out there. Plenty. I started living on the secondhand economy long before it was trendy. I am happy to see this movement go mainstream. In my opinion, it is a better, more sustainable way for us all to live. That is my story, and I am sticking to it!
Years ago my oldest daughter talked about sustainability. We decided that the cabinet of the President needs a Sustainability Department. We should design all things with a life of product cycle and whether or not it meets a goal of sustainability. We not only need less stuff but we need to repurpose, recycle and reuse everything. Nature does. Nature recycles every atom. We are made from atoms from dinosaurs, ferns, rocks, clouds and ultimately stars. No waste in nature. Our planet needs to be sustainable and we are killing it and us with stuff.
May I add,
Nature is Regenerative and Sustainable by its fundamental nature.
I love this idea. Like any massive transformation - social norms around what is means to use recycled stuff need to shift. In the Bay Area my sister is huge on the Buy Nothing group and it 100% works. But in other areas buying new, bigger and better still rules. Need more mainstream campaigns and media support to normalize the "recycled economy" - it's possible!!
Awesome, awesome post. I have radically reduced my consumption after reading "Less is More," by Jason Hickel. It will make you angry and sick to your stomach for being duped into buying the closets/houses/attics/storage units of shit you don't need. As a society, we've been seduced by a combination of advertising messages for "bigger, better, faster, cheaper, more," planned obsolescence, and access to easy credit to spend money we don't have, reinforcing acquisitive behavior patterns that serve as a proxy for individual agency. This faux empowerment is only a temporary fix, though, and leads to great personal suffering when the "stuff" doesn't satisfy the real human needs of individual purpose, dignity, and community. Meanwhile that "stuff" further extracted resources from a dying planet, elevated temperatures, generated more non-biodegradable waste, killed off more biodiversity, contributed to climate disasters, created more climate refugees. If you want to make a difference in this world and take back power from a system that values growth and profits for the sole purpose of growth and profits, #StopBuying. That's the only way the people can take back our dignity, our planet, our power. We are so much more powerful than we realize, but only when we #StandTogether and #ActTogether.
“This faux empowerment is only a temporary fix, though, and leads to great personal suffering when the "stuff" doesn't satisfy the real human needs of individual purpose, dignity, and community.” Well said! I’ll have to read the book. Adjacent, I suspect related to the structural inequalities in this system- met someone as an adult who experienced the traumas of childhood filled with poverty, untreated mental health issues, abuse and neglect. All of the siblings hoard. Lots of crap... wonder how not if that trauma is connected.
Stacey, I agree with you for the most part, the challenge we have is that people still need to borrow to do things and if the out of control buying stops, how will the Fed and others punish us all. They will, guaranteed: high interest rates, scarcity in the things people actually do need and can't trade for, and things I can't even imagine now. Rich white men and a few others can't see themselves watching their fortunes lessen, even if only a tiny fraction. They are deeply addicted to acquisition of money and power and like a desperate addict of anything, will do nearly anything to get their fix even if a whole lot of people are hurt in the process. How do we plan for preventing that from happening?
As one who already shares a lawnmower and assorted tools, I stand solidly behind a recycled economy. But as economists know, economies depend on a circulation not just of goods but of money. What’s needed to make Reich’s solution work is not just stuff left at the end of the driveway but a massive shift to services that matter. Paying far fewer people to work crap jobs selling stuff, paying far more people to work in genuine service. Cutting the average classroom size in half by doubling the number of teachers would be a start. I’d like to believe that’s a possibility but it would take an entire reshifting of our deep and abiding disdain for schools and teachers and our deep and abiding need for stuff.
I am a 75 year old woman who hasn't bought ANYTHING from a store in years. I am retired. I volunteer
at a hugh thrift shop. EVERYTHING I want or need comes from the 2nd hand store. Even such mundane things as unbleached coffee filters or replacement heads for my electric toothbrush I find
there. I am living the life you propose. My income is small but my expenses are much smaller. My bank account continues to grow even though I am wearing designer clothes and have lovely tasteful furniture and accessories. I do not give or want for myself gifts of "stuff" at birthdays or holidays. Experiences of concerts, musical performances or travel have far more value these days. Life is good!
Lots of people make money by trading up.
Totally agree! I always check thrift shops or yard sales before buying anything new, and I do not throw out anything usable. I donate to those same thrift shops. Trading would be infinitely better than that, and I have seen signs of it beginning in my area. I hope it continues to become more popular.
My parents gave their 4 daughters along with our families the gift of deciding at 82 they would move from their house to a senior living apartment complex. They needed no help, perfectly healthy, they searched for a lovely, reasonable, safe and pleasant senior living facility. They allowed us to take what we or our children would like, donated their stuff to various recycling and second hand shops. That was over 8 years ago. Dad died in ‘19, right before COVID and Mom is still doing well at 92, still in their original apartment. I’d like to point out the facility’s COVID infection rates were very low and Mom, who is fully vaccinated has never contracted COVID or any variants.
May I point out that as mayor of Braddock, PA, incoming US Senator John Fetterman and his wife Giselle, ran a successful store of regularly needed household items and supplies in their town helping the community’s lower income residents readily stretch their dollars on things they couldn’t afford brand new.
Along with larger resale shops such as Salvation Army, St Vincent DePaul, online message boards and community outreach, these locally owned resale and recycle shops are popular and needed. They’re everywhere. People like to feel their donations of items no longer needed in their homes will find a purpose and make a difference in other homes.
I was thinking that civic minded folk with pick up trucks might offer a few hours a week helping people get needed items (furniture, appliances) from the store to their homes. It doesn’t do any good if you can’t get a needed washer /dryer home. A fee to cover the price of gas or a small donation, people can get the items they need to their homes. That would go a long way to keep things cycling.
The inescapable plastic waste, even from just buying groceries, is a huge ecological problem. We need to fix that with a punitive tax and good packaging alternatives.
But the proposal that the world’s most capitalist country will measure itself by something other than GDP is so cute! Dr Reich, sometimes your subtle humor cracks me up.
Think about what you see on the shelves in stores when you go looking for some thing. How many millions of screwdrivers are out there on store shelves while there are millions of screwdrivers sitting on used with people‘s stuff. To me the critical issue is as you put it, infinite wants from finite resources. Most of my non-food shopping for years has been through Freecycle and thrift and consignment stores people who come to my home love what I have, and a huge percentage of it is recycled. This planet will not survive if we don’t stop using resources to make more of what we already have plenty of .
We used to bring our own trash to the landfill in Southern Rhode Island and I’d sometimes come home with more than I took. I recall a mountain of books at the entrance one Saturday. They came from a small rural library. The dump master sat on a milk carton, tearing the covers off books — like plucking chickens. I screamed at him to stop until I could go through the pile. I took three cases of pre-1900 books home that day.
I once read about a local garbage dump attendant who built & furnished his entire house (inside and out) from scratch with stuff others had tossed. Didn't need to buy a thing.
After growing up with almost all hand-me-downs anyway, I started wearing thrift store clothing back in college when it was cool and vintage. But I came to see the advantages of second-hand clothes and now I barely buy any new clothing beyond bras, socks, and underwear. Benefits are many: you already know what will happen to it when it's washed; if current fashion trends don't fit your tastes, you can pick out things from former decades; you can afford much nicer brands that will last longer; shoes are already broken in and will not give you blisters; the variety!